With the Turks in Palestine eBook

As I proceeded on my journey northward, I hoped to
find consolation and brighter prospects in the independent
province of the Lebanon. Few Americans know just
what the Lebanon is. From the repeated allusions
in the Bible most people imagine it to be nothing
but a mountain. The truth is that a beautiful
province of about four thousand square miles bears
that name. The population of the Lebanon consists
of a Christian sect called Maronites and the Druses,
the latter a people with a secret religion the esoteric
teachings of which are known only to the initiated,
and never divulged to outsiders. Both these peoples
are sturdy, handsome folk. Through the machinations
of the Turks, whose policy is always to “divide
and rule,” the Maronites were continually fighting
against the Druses. In 1860 Turkish troops joined
with the Druses and fell upon the Maronites with wholesale
massacres that spread as far south as Damascus, where
ten thousand Christians were killed in two days.

[ILLUSTRATION: THE CHRISTIAN TOWN OF ZAHLEH IN
THE LEBANON]

The European powers were moved at last. Fifty
warships were sent to Beirut, and ten thousand French
troops were landed in the Lebanon, to create order.
Under the pressure of the European powers the Sublime
Porte was forced to grant an autonomy for the province
of the Lebanon. The French, English, German,
Russian, Austrian, and, a year later, the Italian,
Governments were signing the guaranty of this autonomy.

Since then the Lebanon has had peace. The Governor
of the province must always be a Christian, but the
General Council of the Lebanon includes representatives
of all the different races and religions of the population.
A wonderful development began with the liberation from
Turkish oppression. Macadamized roads were built
all over the province, agriculture was improved, and
there was complete safety for life and property.
There is a proverb now in Palestine and Syria which
says, “In the Lebanon a virgin may travel alone
at midnight and be safe, and a purse of gold dropped
in the road at midday will never be stolen.”
And the proverb told the literal truth.

When one crossed the boundary from Turkish Palestine
into the Lebanon province, what a change met his eyes!—­peaceful
and prosperous villages, schools filled with children,
immense plantations of mulberry trees and olives,
the slopes of the mountains terraced with beautiful
vineyards, a handsome and sturdy population, police
on every road to help the stranger, and young girls
and women with happy laugh and chatter working in
the fields. With a population of about six hundred
thousand this province exported annually two million
dollars’ worth of raw silk, silkworm-raising
being a specialty of the Lebanon.

When autonomy was granted the Lebanon, French influence
became predominant among the Maronites and other Christians
of the province. French is spoken by almost all
of them, and love for France is a deep-rooted sentiment
of the people. On the other hand, the Druses feel
the English influence. For the last sixty years
England has been the friend of the Druses, and they
have not forgotten it.